At least 22 people were killed and 27 others injured in a stampede on a crowded pedestrian bridge connecting two railway stations in Mumbai during Friday morning's rush-hour, police in India said.

The stampede was triggered after falling concrete hit the overpass railing, leading people in the crowd to surge forward to escape because they feared the bridge would collapse, Mumbai police official Gansham Patel said.

People had been crowding under the canopy covering the footbridge to escape heavy rain, making the deadly tragedy worse, said Shaina Nana Chudasama, of the governing Bhartiya Janata Party.